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VW may oust Toyota as No. 1

Volkswagen AG may have overtaken Toyota Motor Co. to become the world's top-selling car maker in the first quarter, thanks to government incentives fuelling demand for small cars.

Sat., April 18, 2009

TOKYO/FRANKFURT–Volkswagen AG may have overtaken Toyota Motor Co. to become the world's top-selling car maker in the first quarter, thanks to government incentives fuelling demand for small cars.

Although overall VW customer deliveries to customers fell 11 per cent to around 1.39 million vehicles, the company dramatically increased its share of the global passenger-car market by 130 basis points to 11 per cent.

Toyota has given no forecast on retail sales, but its latest estimate of shipments for the 2009 first quarter is 1.23 million vehicles, down 47 per cent from a year earlier.

"Volkswagen has the luck of being strong in the markets that are currently growing, while Toyota is exposed to those that are collapsing," said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, head of the Centre for Automotive Research in Gelsenkirchen.

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Reuters News Agency

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